Lost in mail synchronization: Can I be helped?

Hi All, I feel like such a clunk! Thought I was a real old-timer guru when it came to computers, but I am really stuck on this one. Desktop computer (built it myself several years ago!) running Win 7 and using WLM (POP) for two mail accounts - one for me and one for my Bride - same program, two accounts. Software is always kept up-to-date. WLM is set up with many storage folders and message rules to sort incoming mail so it makes sense to us. You know, Family, Newsletters, Friends, that kind of thing. Now, Bride gets a new laptop, also running Win 7 and using WLM. It seemed like such a simple request when she asked if she could link to her email account on both computers, but have both computers sync'ed so that mail on one is also on the other. She wants whatever comes in to be on both machines, and whatever she sends to also be on both machines. Great idea, I said! Why, we ought to be able to do that for all of our email, both hers and mine, so that if we take the laptop on a trip, I can get my mail too! Wonderful!
I am sorry to report that I am completely lost as to how to accomplish this feat, and even worse, the Bride thinks I am beginning to lose it - technically speaking. This is where you all come in because I know from many years of experience that anyone who hangs around with Fred Langa and crowd has to be the savviest of the savvy! Now I'm not trying to make this even more complicated, but what if I throw an additional laptop in there, and how about an IPod or a tablet. See where I'm headed here? I want to be able to get any of our mail on any device, and have them all be in sync. Can this be done?
Thanks for being so patient - but there is one more thing. I am really good at following directions, but the directions cannot assume that I know something that may be common knowledge to you, but not to me. I love details!
I hope somebody out there can help me restore my Bride's view of my technical prowess - I know I could do it eventually, but who know how much time I have left?!
Thanks!! Dave

In the properties of the POP accounts in WLM there should be an advanced tab. At the bottom is the Delivery section and Leave a copy on the server should be checked so that a different email client with the same account information can download those same emails. Check the Delete from server when deleted from the local deleted items and then automate emptying the deleted items folder upon exit or delete them manually to actually delete them permanently from the server.

For iPad and tablet, if there's not an local client app that can be configured similarly I suspect one just uses the web email interface directly in a browser.

Thanks for the reply! I have not tried it, but I have done a lot of research on the net on the subject. Saw lots of stuff on IMAP (not even sure if I can use that with my provider, Charter Cable) plus using GMail, Dropbox, and others. None of those articles seemed very convincing about syncing the mail, and none made enough sense to me to cause me to try them. I am willing to change email client from WLM - to anything which will accomplish the syncing (assuming that I don't lose my email history.) Charter Cable is the provider - cannot be changed, and it is POP account(s).

Thanks for the reply F.U.N,
Does that recommended process also sync all sent messages so that they are on all devices? Also, is it possible that I would overrun whatever my storage allocation might be on the server if I keep messages for a long time?
The last sentence is mostly greek to me - sorry - I think you are saying that if the email client on an IPod, or tablet cannot be configured like my laptop or desktop, then I need to use Webmail with them? I think if I had to do that, I would just migrate everything to Web mail for the sake of simplicity. Thanks again!

Ya getting all your mail directly from the server in a browser works well until they go and change the interface every so often but maybe Charter doesn't make drastic changes like Gmail and MSN a.k.a. Hotmail a.k.a. Live a.k.a. Outlook.com do.

As far as I know sent messages won't sync with another desktop client that they were not sent from. If you need that then you will probably have to look into IMAP which is much more fine-grained, so to speak, as far as syncing capabilities go.

Leaving messages on the server is not that good, unless you know you have a big storage quota for your email (which will happen if you use hotmail / outlook.com / gmail). One way to keep the sent messages saved, as well, would be to CC the sender in every case, or use IMAP.
I am probably old school regarding email, as I don't like IMAP at all. I prefer to keep my email messages locally (which means I just use it from a single point), even though I read email on multiple devices (but just keep everything email on my laptop, though backed up to the cloud), so I use POP.

Thanks again rurib and F.U.N.
Your messages clearly demonstrate the hodge podge that is email sync. I guess I'm not so clunky after all. I am simply amazed, with the plethora of home and mobile devices, that there isn't a simple, easy to implement way of syncing email files. Isn't that just stupid? As soon as I have to manage the files, or delete files, or check the file capacity on the server just to keep the sync accurate, I am doing too much work and may as well just forget it. Anybody got a better idea?

That's just how email is. With a bit of effort, depending on your email clients, you can be set to work as you wish and once you do, you can simply forget it all.
IMAP works well for what you want and it's not surprising that only the big players can offer big allowances of storage for free. It's just the way things are.

It may make sense for you to get an account from Outlook.com or Gmail (I don't like Google a bit, but that is a personal preference. Like that not only would you be immune to storage limit issues, but you could also use IMAP (or the Microsoft "equivalent", EAS). You can even make it read from your current provider automatically.

Thanks ruirib,
A glimmer of hope appears! So if I were to create an account (or accounts) at Outlook.com I should be able to sync our existing accounts at Charter (and any future accounts elsewhere) through Outlook and have all of my email devices in sync with each other? Sorry for the run-on sentence! I just want this to be set up so I don't have to do some maintenance action every week, or worry about over running storage. Also, can I transfer our existing email store to Outlook? I told you I needed details?! Thanks!

Yes, if you use the outlook.com account to read your email from Charter, that will be possible. The same applies to a gmail account, if you'd rather use gmail.
The downside to this is that, although you can choose the default email address used with email you send, I am not sure that email address will not be the only one you will be able to use as your sender email address. Right now, if you just use Charter, you can even use the charter email address when sending from outlook.com and there are no downsides. If you have more than one email account, I am not sure you will be able to use more than the default address, unless you use Outlook.com's interface.

Create your outlook.com account. Once you do that, I would say the first step is to configure it to read your Charter email. So login to outlook.com and click the small settings icon next to your name (top right). You will be led to an options page, where you need to choose "Your email accounts". Once here, choose "Add a send and receive account" and fill in the requested details. As Charter is not that a popular email provider, click "Advanced Options" to specify your POP and SMTP server details (trust that you know this info). You can decide whether you want to leave a copy of the messages on the Charter server or not - probably while testing this, you will.

Once you provide all the details, you will be asked to choose a folder where you want the email from this account to go to, once received. Choose the inbox or a specific folder... and you're done setting up the account.

I'm Backkk! First problem ruirib.
When creating the first email account in outlook, I go to the advanced settings. I set the server addresses and port numbers to their correct values (confirmed by looking at the settings in my current WLM), unchecked the SSL box, checked leave messages on server - as you suggested, checked use the same user name to send and receive messages, made sure that name, email address and password are correct. When I select "Next", I get the error "There's a problem connecting to the SMTP mail server". I tried it several times, changed the leave messages on server selection and tried it, and double checked the addresses of the servers. Nothing allows it to work. I tried WLM and it works fine. WLM was not running while I was doing this. Help Please!